Anne’s 70th and Soda Café

07.01.2011

My mother-in-law Anne turns 70 today and we celebrated as a family with dinner at Soda Café. Located in the beautiful costal suburb of North Beach, Soda Café overlooks the breathtaking Indian Ocean. The former Beachcomers site has been transformed significantly since owners Ben Andrijasevich and Bridget LeGrove restyled the venue in 2005 and it has become a casual, yet elegant space.

The view from Soda was breathtaking and watching the sunset while you have your dinner is priceless but I must say, our meal was a bit of a hit and miss. We started with seared scallops, courgette flower, ricotta, sumac & mint, crispy prosciutto, grilled chorizo and specifically requested some freshly shucked oysters that were natural, just as they were with some lemon and Tabasco. The oysters were served with wakame (which is seaweed) and black vinegar when we wanted them natural. We were told that that was how they served natural oysters. They were kind enough to replace the oysters with natural after a little debating. The oysters were fresh and just how we wanted it it taste like it was just picked from the ocean.

The scallops were beautifully cooked, and went well with the courgette flower and crispy prosciutto. And how could you go wrong with grilled chorizo with a good squeeze of lemon and garlic bread.

For our mains, I ordered the beetroot risotto with honey roast parsnips and orange gremolata which was absolutely delicious. There was a perfect balance of sweetness from the beetroot going well with the crunch of the roasted parsnip. My mother-in-law was very pleased with her grilled barramundi, white bean puree, cherry tomato and sage and caper noisette. The barramundi was cooked perfectly, well seasoned along with a smooth white bean puree.

My father-in-law was also well pleased with his beef fillet, thyme roasted kipflers, green beans with horseradish and mustard jus. He had requested his fillet to be well-done and it came as he ordered it. The beef was beautifully seasoned along with the cooked green beans and a light horseradish & mustard jus. My mum ordered the lacquered duck, master stock, Asian mushrooms and udon noodles where the noodles looked more like fettuccine than udon noodles. Although the dish was swimming in the master stock, the duck was well cooked and tender and the flavour was a perfect combination.

On the other hand, a couple of the other mains did not live up to expectations. My sister-in-law ordered the seafood linguine, sweet corn, peppers, peas and chipotle topped with goats curd. The seafood was over-cooked and chewy. The dish was not well executed at all, overly salty with a mix match of sweetness from the sweet corn, peppers and peas. John ordered Chinese blackened lamb rack, cucumber, nectarine and radish which was a totally disaster. The lamb was well over cooked and tough where lamb is meant to be pink on the inside. The flavours from the nectarine and radish just weren’t working with the dish and the rice was rather mushy.

The highlight of the meal was my beetroot risotto, perfectly balance of flavours along with the rich and beautiful colour from the beetroot. The lowlights would be the lamb rack which was so over-cooked you just could not eat it at all and the seafood linguine which was again over-cooked with too many flavours over-powering the dish. The service was nothing to complain about except that they started clearing the dishes before everyone had finished with their mains.

So if you’re up for a beautiful view, this is the perfect spot to be and just make sure if you are ordering the lamb, ensure to ask for it to me medium rare. My mother-in-law was happy with her meal and that’s all that matters. Happy Birthday Mum, we hoped you had a good night.

On the whole, 6 ½ for the food quality, 8 ½ for the atmosphere and 7 for service.